Radiation of single photons from Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS and quark hadron phase transition

The production of single photons in Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS as measured by the WA98 experiment is analysed. A very good description of the data is obtained if a quark gluon plasma is assumed to be formed initially, which expands, cools, hadronizes, and undergoes freeze-out. A rich hadronic equation of state is used and the transverse expansion of the interacting system is taken into account. The recent estimates of photon production in quark-matter (at two loop level) along with the dominant reactions in the hadronic matter leading to photons are used. Most of the radiation of the photons is seen to arise from the quark-matter, which contributes dominantly through the mechanism of annihilation of quarks with scattering, and which in turn is possible only in a hot and dense plasma of quarks and gluons. The results thus confirm the formation of quark gluon plasma and the existence of this mechanism of the production of single photons.